Cleanliness is Godliness

Lucy lay back amongst the bubbles and steam and let the heat of the water soak right through her. She closed her eyes and let the intensity of all these physical feelings and simply blind out her racing thoughts and emotions. Sister Diane was sat on the lip of the stone bath behind her. Those long, luscious legs resting casually either side of the younger girl’s head. She was running a strong wooden comb through Lucy’s tangled hair and clearly trying her best to tease the thousands of knots out as gently as possible. Lucy didn’t mind. Every once in a while one would sting as it caught, but the satisfying release of each eventually giving in, along with the steady rhythmic scratch of the prongs against her scalp, were pleasures worth suffering for. Her angel hummed a little as she worked. Snatches of wordless lullabies and half-recognisable pop-songs. The sound was so homely and detaching that Lucy almost believed this was an older sister of hers, some long-lost relation who had finally arrived to make her feel at home somewhere. She kept this naughty little fantasy to herself, marvelling at how joyous it made her feel. All she’d ever wanted was to feel so close to someone else.

The water was pretty murky by the time the scrubbed-up urchin admitted it had gone cold enough to require leaving. Her clothes had been stolen away at the beginning by two briefly appearing other angels… or should she call them ‘brothers and sisters’ now? Whether to be cleaned or burned… she didn’t know. It had made her slightly anxious at the time… relieved only by noticing that they purposefully left a folded white night-dress in their place. However, now she stood dripping as Diane fluffed an equally-white towel over her hair… she didn’t really feel she needed to slip into that soft-cotton covering. Everyone else she’d encountered seemed to traverse this place entirely naked… she’d almost feel overdressed being the only one not exposed. Her companion seemed to smile but say nothing as she took note of this decision, simply leading the way back out into the corridor. Lucy found the feel of air against her still-drying skin was remarkably pleasant and, despite her earlier thoughts, the stone of the corridor was not particularly cold at all… just cooling against the soles of her feet.

They had eaten a meal in a wide, many-benched room before any suggestion of a bath had been made. The two of them being left undisturbed with two large bowls of stew and bread at a table in the corner. The space clearly catered for a great many people to eat at once, but by the time they got there there were only scattered grouping of other naked personas. Each one wore that standard uniform of a simple wooden crucifix around the neck, but beyond that came in all manner of shapes and sizes. Some, like the perfumed man she’d met before, seemed to be dressed in the remainder of a variety of costumes and make-up, but all seemed to consider complete nudity as a perfectly comfortable state to occupy. Obviously Lucy had seen a considerable amount of flesh on show in her time within the city and previous brief dalliances with various high-schools. However, there was a kind of weird hypocrisy within their society wherein the height of fashion was to show off as much of what you had to offer as possible, but actually just being naked was considered a **** and slovenly ploy. The ‘art of subtlety’ they might call it… ‘fucking stupid’ is what Lucy would.

Diane led her down several twists and turns until they came to a door that seemed just like any of the others, to Lucy at least. The portal wasn’t locked in anyway and the angel pushed it open casually, kicking aside what looked like a few discarded costume-props of her own and picking up a discarded book to put upon a shelf. The room was small… but cosy, a sort of hollowed out space carved from what looked like natural rock. Lucy realised for the first time that they must be underground. That the slow spiralling corridor must also burrow down slightly as it did so, but somehow cunningly disguise that fact as you travelled along it. There were very sparse furnishings in the room, apart from that one shelf of books and a wooden desk and chair. The bed was interestingly carved out into a wide alcove within the wall itself. There was room for two bodies just about, and for both to sit up beside each other… but no chance of bouncing upon the mattress for sure. It was also, distinctly, the only place anyone staying within the room could sleep.

“New arrivals always have an established brother or sister to share their bed with… to look after them. It’s part of our training to be someone you can feel safe with… any time you need us.” The absolutely perfect miracle of a young woman looked down at Lucy with her soft, sad eyes and asked: “Is that okay with you?”